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Toll road supporters ready for new proposal

Ga. Highway 316

Posted: Saturday, June 18, 2005

By Vicky EckenrodeMorris News Service

ATLANTA - Even though state transportation officials have made Georgia Highway 316's existing lanes off-limits to toll booths, the private developers who were working on a proposal for upgrading the road say they are ready to resume talks.

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The state Transportation Board adopted a resolution this week that protects current interstate and major state routes from being turned into toll roads as part of public-private deals to ease congestion around the Atlanta area.

But the board also encouraged the state Department of Transportation to work with private developers, who could be key in providing funding for large-scale road projects faster than the state can.

Even without charging drivers on existing lanes already funded by taxpayers, road builders could recoup their money in other ways, such as building additional lanes and charging drivers for using those or creating truck-only toll lanes for tractor trailers, transportation board members said.

Public criticism that the existing 39-mile stretch of Ga. 316 between Gwinnett County and Athens could become a limited-access toll road for drivers was one reason the board included protection for existing roads in its resolution.

"It didn't surprise me that the board did that," said state Sen. Brian Kemp, R-Athens. "There's an awful lot of people I talked to that didn't think it was right to put a toll on an existing road.